When King Kong released in 1933, it saved RKO Studios from imminent bankruptcy.
With the film's assured success, RKO was already demanding a follow-up,
but there were a couple of problems. The first was time. King Kong had taken nearly a year and
a half to produce, but RKO didn't want to mark off that much of the calendar again.
The second problem was money. Even though RKO would soon be in the black for the first
time in years, it wasn't exactly flush with the kind of money the original King Kong had spent
during its production. RKO also wasn't convinced that King Kong was a replicable formula,
that if they did the same thing again, it would be any success at all. For these reasons,
the studio felt it necessary to cut both the production schedule and the budget in half, and
with the giant ape still stomping into theaters to delighted audiences, Kong's son was born.
After The Eighth Wonder of the World fell from the Empire State Building, his ambitious captor,
Carl Denham, has become a wanted man, sought after by the press, by process servers,
and by everyone else who wants to know how he will repair the damage created by his gigantic primate.
Tired of hiding away in his lonely apartment, Denham flees the country with Captain Englehorn,
hoping to make a life for himself in the shipping trade. However, at one island, the very man who
had given him the map to Kong's home tells him sweet tales of a hidden treasure there. Before
long, Denham sets sail for adventure once more, only to once again find a giant ape in his path.
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The team behind King Kong barely had any time to celebrate their success before they began
working on its sequel. Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack once again produced the film,
with Schoedsack pegged as the full-time director. Ruth Rose was tasked with writing the story,
though there is a persistent rumor--which has never been proven one way or another--that Son of
Kong was built off the back of a remake of 1927's The Enchanted Island. Regardless, Rose knew that
there was no way to recapture the magic of the original King Kong, especially not with such a
reduced budget, so she decided to write something more character-driven and comedic, with less
reliance on spectacle and awe. In her own words, "If you can't make it bigger, make it funnier."
Also returning was Robert Armstrong as Carl Denham,
who in this film is trying to reconcile his guilt over the events of the first film
while fleeing from lawsuits and an indictment in New York.
"Oh, if I don't get out of this house, I'll bite somebody!"
Reflecting back on the two Kong films later in his life,
Armstrong would say he prefered his work in Son of Kong, specifically because his character was
given more dimension and a dynamic arc, and honestly, I have to agree with him.
Other returning cast members were Frank Reicher as Captain Englehorn,
Noble Johnson and Steve Clemente in a brief scene as the Native Chief and Witch King,
respectively, and Victor Wong as Charlie, the cook. As with Denham,
I appreciate how Rose's story gives more life to Charlie, who overcomes the
goofy stereotypes to become one of the most low-key interesting characters in the film,
a keen judge of character who remains loyal to Englehorn and Denham throughout the entire film.
"Charlie, they throw you off, too?"
"No throw off, get off! Me no like them men."
For the female lead, the young orphan who is named Hilda in the opening credits but Helene
in the actual film, they brought in Helen Mack, a former child actress and Broadway
ingenue who had previously appeared in The Struggle and While Paris Sleeps. After Son
of Kong, she would become most well-known for her role in His Girl Friday and would reunite
with Mirian Cooper for She, though she would have a very long and storied career in film,
television, radio, and theater as an actress, a writer, a director, and even a producer.
Mack plays a significantly different character than Fay Wray's gullible damsel in distress
from King Kong, and once again, I think Rose's script does a good job creating
a more well-rounded and interesting character not beholden to stereotypes. Hilda/Helene
is still young and naïve, but far more assertive and strong-willed,
never letting herself be treated like a child or a victim. She is mourning her recently
deceased father and looking to replace him with Denham--which does get a bit creepy in the end
when they become romantically involved--but you get the sense that she had always been prepared
for the eventuality, knowing that her father was never going to be long for this world.
The only other major human character in the film is the villainous Nils Helstrom,
played by John Marston. Helstrom is probably the script's weakest character in terms of his being
fairly one-dimensional as a weasley cur who manipulates Denham with promises of treasure.
"Shut up!"
Still, he's a fun character to dislike, and the scene where he is thrown overboard by the very
same crew he'd whipped up to mutiny against Englehorn and Denham is absolutely delicious.
Under the working title of "Jamboree," filming on Son of Kong began in late March of 1933,
less than three weeks after its predecessor's New York premiere
and over two weeks before its wide release. Some exterior shots were done at the Santa Monica Pier
and on Santa Catalina Island, but some corners were cut. For example, though Max Steiner did
once again have a chance to score the film, he didn't have enough time to do the entire thing,
and pieces of his score from the original King Kong were recycled
throughout. They even reused the sounds of Fay Wray's screams from the original film as well.
The most important returning crewmember was Willis O'Brien, the lead technician in charge of the
special effects. He utilized the same stop motion effects techniques and compositing processes
of the previous film. He even reused one of the original Kong armatures to create the titular Son
of Kong, who was known throughout the production as Kiko, a short portmanteau of "King Kong,"
but who is named "Little Kong" in the film and in its promotional materials.
The styrachosaurus that was cut from King Kong was also reused to create this memorable sequence.
Though there are far fewer effects shots in the sequel, they look a little more polished,
with cleaner compositing and tighter animation,
reflecting the incredible speed with which visual effects was evolving at the time.
However, the biggest effects sequence--involving a whole host of dinosaurs stampeding
around during the climax--was never filmed, cut for budgetary reasons.
O'Brien wanted his name removed from the film and refused to talk about it afterwards, even to his
future protégé, Ray Harryhausen. Part of this was due to tension between himself and the producers,
with Cooper and Schoedsack insisting on a more hands-on approach with the effects.
O'Brien, who didn't like the script to begin with, left most of the actual work to his assistant,
Buzz Gibson, occasionally failing to show up on set at all in protest to his treatment.
He was also developing a reputation for not being a team player in Hollywood,
as he refused the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' offer of a special Oscar
for King Kong, arguing that every member of his team should receive one as well.
However, the main reason he wanted to be removed from Son of Kong
was an unthinkable personal tragedy in his life that happened in the middle of production,
when his estranged wife killed their two young children and attempted to take her own life,
as they were all suffering from tuberculosis and its ill effects. For Willis O'Brien, then, Son of
Kong became inexorably tied to his immense grief, which is why he didn't want to even talk about it.
In the end, O'Brien's name remained in the film's credits and he and Cooper's professional
relationship survived long enough for them to make several more films together, including
Mighty Joe Young, which features many of the same people involved in both King Kong and Son of Kong.
One can't expect that O'Brien ever fully recovered from his tragedy, but he did marry his second wife
in late 1934, and the two would remain happily married until Willis' own death in 1962.
As for Son of Kong, it released in December of 1933 to poor reviews and
a modest domestic box office of $616,000 in theater rentals against its $269,000 budget.
Reviewers felt that it didn't live up to the promise of its predecessor,
calling it everything from a trite melodrama to a glorified B-picture.
Audiences of the time were also a bit confused and put off by the shift in tone,
and RKO decided in the film's wake to abandon any plans it had to turn Kong into a franchise.
Indeed, Son of Kong is today considered by many a film that nearly destroyed its predecessor's
legacy in the crib. It has its fans, but for the most part, it's not beloved by very many.
However, personally speaking, I respect it for what it tries to do
and for being watchable at all considering the ridiculous studio constraints put upon it.
No, I'm not a fan of the screwball comedy, but I appreciate the way the story delves
deeper into the characters and tries to develop a cohesive theme about redemption
that directly follows from the original film's ending. It's clearly rushed, as evidenced by
its inexplicable climax and the lazy plot device of the treasure actually being real,
but it's also deliberate in its intentions. If you go into it without the expectations of King Kong,
it's actually pretty good, albeit not truly great. In other words, despite its reputation and its
flaws, Son of Kong is still a treasure of its own, and it absolutely qualifies as a sci-fi classic.
And that's all for today, my fellow Earthlings. Do you have any thoughts about Son of Kong?
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Until next time, though, when we'll break into the wrong goddamn rec room, this is The Unapologetic
Geek, telling you to never be ashamed of what you love, as long as you're not hurting anybody.
"Did you ever catch a monkey?"
"Did I ever ca--? Lady, you'd be surprised."